Two-piece rail anchor



Dec. 10, 1957 J. L. GRANT 2,815,902

TWO-PIECE RAIL ANCHOR Filed Sept. 22. 1954 ATTX United States PatentTWO-PIECE RAIL ANCHOR John L. Grant, Chicago, Ill., assignor, by mesneassignments, to Poor & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of DelawareApplication September 22, 1954, Serial No. 457,588

4 Claims. (Cl. 238-324) This invention relates to certain new and usefulimprovements in railway rail anchors and particularly to the two piecetype of rail anchor disclosed in the Patent 1,402,852 granted to CharlesG. Erickson, January 10, 1922.

The principal object of the invention is to provide, in a rail anchor ofthe above type, simplified structural improvements which will be highlyeffective in overcoming the tendency with the various disturbinginfluences encountered in service have to loosen the grip on the rail ofsuch two-piece rail anchors and cause their dislodgement from the rail.

The type of rail anchor to which the present invention appertainscomprises a cast metal shoe which fits onto one edge of the base portionof a rail and a yoke which embraces the rail base and said shoe in tightclamping engagement. The outer face of the shoe is inclined to form awedge configuration and one end is formed with an abutment flange forbearing against an adjacent cross-tie. The yoke is made from arelatively heavy bar of only slight resilience. It is formed at one endwith a small hook for engagement with an edge of the rail base oppositeto the edge engaged by the shoe and at the other end with a large hookfor embracing said shoe. The yoke is applied to its operative positionby engaging the small hook over an edge portion of the rail base andmoving it lengthwise of the rail until the small end of the wedgeportion of the shoe enters the large hook of the yoke. The yoke is thendriven lengthwise of the rail to force the large hook onto the wedgeportion of the shoe.

When the above type of anchor, as heretofore constructed, is properlyapplied it exerts a strong grip on the rail and said shoe, but there isa pronounced tendency, because of the vibration and other disturbingforces encountered in service, for the yoke to back off the wedgeportion of the shoe and therefore loose its rail clamping force.

The present invention is directed to improvements which overcome theabove mentioned objections to this type of rail anchor as theretoforeproduced. Accordingly the yoke member is improved whereby, instead ofbeing moved lengthwise of the rail into initial engagement with thewedge portion of the shoe, the large hook of the yoke may be engagedover the wedge portion of the shoe at a location intermediate its endsand driven transversely thereof until a locking shoulder, formed at theother end of the yoke, snaps up into engagement with the vertical edgesurface of the rail base flange at the opposite side of the rail. Inthis position the resilient vertical grip of the large hook on the shoeis sufiicient to maintain the yoke in position on the rail and preventaccidental dislodgement thereof. The yoke is then driven further uponthe wedging surfaces of the shoe while the latter abuts a cross-tie andthe body of the yoke is driven to a diagonal position relative to therail so as to provide 2,815,902 Patented Dec. 10, 1957 a shackle grip onthe rail and shoe to resist creeping movement of the rail.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing wherein:

Fig. l is a plan view of the base portion of a railroad rail showing arail anchor constructed according to the present invention installedthereon;

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken through the rail base, but showing aface view of the anchor construction;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the rail anchor assembly as viewed at the rightof Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detail section taken on line 4-4 ofFig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates the base portion of a railroadrail, 11 one of the cross-ties of a track way, and 12 designates aconventional form of tie plate interposed between the top surface of thecross-tie 11 and the bottom surface of the rail base 10 so as to providea seat for the latter. The rail base portion of the rail may be securedto the cross-tie in any suitable manner.

The improved rail anchor shown in the drawing is a two piece devicedesigned to clamp the rail base 10 and abut against a vertical face ofthe cross-tie 11 to resist creeping movement of the rail in thedirection of the moving traffic thereon, that is to say in the directionof the feathered arrow shown in Fig. 1. One piece of. the improveddevice is a shoe 13. It is preferably a metal casting formed with a topflange 14 and with spaced apart bottom flanges 1516, all of whichcooperate to define a recess for embracing an edge portion of the railbase. The upper flange 14 of the shoe bears upon the inclined uppersurface of the rail base flange embraced and the bottom flanges 15-16bear against the bottom surface of the rail base at locations adjacentthe opposite ends of the shoe. The end of the shoe adjacent thecross-tie 11 is formed with a tie abutting foot 17 which is adapted toabut against a vertical face of the crosstie 11. The said foot 17extends downwardly from the rail a substantial distance and isrigidified by a vertical web 18. The portion 19 of the shoe isrelatively heavy and connects the three flanges 14, 15 and 16. The outersurface 20 of the portion 19 is curved and tapers to increase inthickness from end to end in the direction of the tie abutting foot 17and its lower edge 21 at the location between the lower flanges 15 and16 terminates above the plane of the bottom surfaces 2324 of theseflanges for a purpose hereafter explained. Also the said increase inthickness of the shoe extends over the top flange 14 as indicated at 25so that the wedge is provided with both lengthwise and vertical wedgingfaces for engagement with the second member 26 of the rail anchordevice. Also the vertical distance between the upper and lower flangesof the shoe 13 is such that it is necessary to drive the shoe onto therail base flange. the upper flange 14 being flexed upwardly from itsinitial position 25 and bears principally at its inner margin againstthe inclined top surface of the rail base. The clearance 27 (Fig. 4)between the top flange 14 and the rail base in the region of the uppercorner thereof permits application of the shoe to rail base flanges ofgreater thickness than that shown in the drawing.

The second member 26 of the device is a relatively heavy yoke made froma rolled steel bar having only slight resiliency. The bar is bent at oneend to provide a hook 28 which fits over the wedge portion of the shoe1? at a location between the bottom flanges 15-16 thereof. The terminalend of the hook constitutes an upper jaw 29 of the yoke which bears onthe inclined upper surface of the top flange 14 of the shoe. Thecurvature of the hook 28 is such that the inner face 30 thereof conformsto the curvature of the outer surface 20 of the shoe 13 and merges intoa curved pocket 31 which receives the lower edge 21 of the side portion19 of the shoe. The said pocket 31 constitutes a lower jaw of the yokeand provides a resilient interlock of the yoke and shoe. Adjacent thesaid pocket form of lower jaw 31, the yoke is formed with a horizontalplatform 32 which extends beneath the rail, but is spaced from thebottom face thereof so as to provide a hump or shoulder 33 which resistsmovement of the yoke laterally of the shoe in a direction to effectdisengagement of the yoke and shoe. The other end of the yoke is offsetto form a locking shoulder 34 which engages the edge 35 of the rail baseto lock the yoke and shoe members in their cooperative engagement on therail base 10. The portion of the yoke intermediate the locking shoulder34 and said platform 32 is bowed downwardly to provide some resiliencetransversely of the rail. The book 28 also has some resilience and theupper and lower jaws 29 and 31 are spread apart slightly when the hookis in its applied position. Consequently the bearing of the terminal end29 of the hook on the shoe and the upward flexing thereof relative tothe curved lower jaw 31 imparts a lever force on the yoke tending toturn it about said curved lower jaw 31 and thereby, in addition to itsgripping action on the shoe, holds the shoulder end 34 up in a lockingposition opposite the vertical surface 35 of the rail base.

The yoke 26 is initially applied by driving the hook 28 onto the shoe ata location between the lower flanges 1516 of the shoe until theresilience of the hook snaps the locking shoulder 34 up over the edge ofthe rail base to its locking position shown in Fig. 2. In this initialposition of the yoke, it extends across beneath the base at right anglesto the length of the rail. Inasmuch as the inner face 36 is formed toextend diagonally across the width of the yoke, the said face will standat an acute angle to the adjacent edge face 35 of the rail base, but oneedge of the shoulder 34 is in close relation to the said face 35 of therail base and will therefore prevent accidental disengagement of theyoke from the shoe. The lower flange 14 of the shoe serves as a stop toprevent the hook portion 28 of the yoke from backing off the end of theshoe.

In order to obtain a clamping grip of sufficient tenacity to held therail from creeping toward the cross-tie, the hook end 28 is drivenlengthwise of the shoe in a direction to increase the wedging effect ofthe shoe within the hook 28, and the locking shoulded end 34 is drivenlengthwise of the rail to position the yoke diagonally across the baseas shown in full lines in Fig. 1. In this position the shoulder face 36bears flat against the edge face 35 of the rail base and the downwardlybowed portion of the yoke is partially straightened and thereby insuresa strong resilient grip of the yoke on the rail base 10 and the shoe 13which resists any tendency that the vibration on the rail mightotherwise have to loosen the transverse grip of the yoke on the wedgingfaces of the shoe. The resilience of the yoke also compensates for thenormal variations in the widths of rail bases and thereby insures atight fit on both oversized and undersized rail bases.

I claim:

1. A two piece rail anchor comprising, in combination, a shoe memberformed with an upper flange and with spaced apart lower flangescooperating with the upper flange for gripping the top and bottomsurfaces of a rail base flange at one side of the rail, means at one endof the shoe for abutting against a vertical face of a cross-tie, avertical side portion connecting said upper and lower flanges, and ayoke for clamping said shoe to the rail, the yoke comprising arelatively heavy steel bar having only slight resilience formed at oneend with a hook having a curved inner surface and adapted to be driventransversely of the shoe into resilient gripping engagement with saidupper flange and the lower edge of said side portion at a locationintermediate said lower flanges of said shoe, locking means at the otherend of the yoke for releasably engaging the vertical edge portion onlyof the rail base flange at the other side of the rail comprising anupwardly projecting shoulder formed on the yoke and movable therewithtransversely of the rail into its locking position, and an abutmentsurface on one of said flanges of the shoe for preventing removal of theyoke from the shoe by movement lengthwise of the shoe.

2. A two-piece rail anchor according to claim 1 characterized in thatthe said vertical side portion of said shoe includes a flat surfacewhich projects beyond the planes of the surfaces of the spaced apartlower flanges of the shoe and therefore projects below the bottom planeof the base flange when the shoe is applied thereto, a curved outer faceextending from the upper flange to the lower flanges with the portionthereof intermediate said spaced apart lower flanges having an upwardlycurved portion terminating at its junction with said flat surface, andfurther characterized in that the curved inner face of the hook iscomplemental to the curved outer face of the side portion of the shoeand joins a horizontal under-rail portion of the yoke at a locationabove the extreme bottom of the curved inner surface of the yoke,whereby the hook of the yoke is opened slightly and thereaftercontracted by the movement thereof transversely of the shoe to itsapplied position to interlock the shoe within the hook of the yoke.

3. A two-piece rail anchor according to claim 2 characterized in thatthe terminal end of the hook portion bears against the top surface ofthe shoe at a substantial distance inwardly from the curved lower faceof the side portion intermediate said spaced apart lower flanges of theshoe, whereby the pressure of the terminal end of the hook on the upperflange of the shoe turns the yoke about said curved lower face of theshoe intermediate said spaced apart lower flanges to hold the lockingshoulder end of the yoke in its operative position.

4. A two-piece rail anchor according to claim 3 characterized in thatthe said horizontal under-rail portion of the yoke is normallypositioned to engage a vertical face of one of said spaced apart lowerflanges of the shoe, whereby the surface of the flange engagedconstitutes the said abutment for preventing removal of the yoke fromthe shoe by movement thereof lengthwise of the shoe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,251,705 Stephenson Jan. 1, 1918 1,355,949 Elgena Oct. 19, 19201,471,171 Knell Oct. 16, 1923 1,613,608 Hackmann Jan. 11, 1927 1,996,286Ericson Apr. 2, 1935

